Chapter 8: The Revenge of Devilseer Part 2

It all comes to this. The most feared and ruthless Death Hound to the Dark Master has finally arrived in the Artisan Temple and will most likely have his revenge upon the very dragons who sealed him in the rock tunnel, which warped him into the other part of the world.

Inside the temple, Devilseer made his way through the corridors and halls, thinking about killing some of the dragons to satisfy his craving stomach and his vengeance. As he walked through the hallways, the Death Hound couldn't help but bear an evil, sadistic grin at the thought of killing every single dragon that lives in the temple to please himself and the Dark Master.

Ember, Ami, and Moira were inside a room in the dark, instructed by Flame not to go outside in the halls to be easy targets for Devilseer. The three, female dragons stiffened when they heard footsteps approaching the door. They started trembling and quivering in dread as the monstrous shadow of Devilseer passed by the room and continued on his search for any vulnerable dragon that may appear in his sights. Hearing the footsteps fading away, Ember, Ami, and Moira all sighed quietly with relief, lowering their heads to the floor.

In the corridors, Rikki and Ruby were walking through the hallways to allow themselves to be seen by Devilseer as part of the plan created by Flame. Both of them were scared, but they had to do it for the safety of their friends and their new home. As they were halfway through the corridor, Rikki and Ruby gasped in fear when they saw Devilseer appear from the corner of the corridor they were in.

The Death Hound was sniffing the floor, but he lifted his head and instantly spotted the two little dragons. Devilseer then snarled eagerly when he saw Rikki and Ruby and licked his chomps with his forked tongue, knowing that the dragons would be easy to kill and devour. He glanced at Ruby and instantly remembered that the little Dream Weaver was the one who led him into the tunnel and narrowly escaped in order for the dragons to seal him in. The sudden memory made the Death Hound snarled viciously and aggressively, but when he saw Rikki and Ruby turn tail and ran, Devilseer quickly gave chase after them, roaring angrily.

"He sounds angry!" Ruby remarked, as she ran through the hallways.

"Well, yeah!" Rikki scoffed, running alongside the little Dream Weaver, "How would you feel if you were sealed in a rock tunnel and was warped to another part of the world?"

Rikki and Ruby scurried through the Artisan Temple as fast as they can, panting as they were trying to lure Devilseer through the temple. However, the two dragons slowly felt Devilseer's hot breath wafting at their heels as the he gained on them, closing the gap between them. Rikki and Ruby tensed and kept running, but no matter how fast they can, their speed was slightly slower than Devilseer's as the hound's dark shadow slowly eclipsed them both as he drew closer to them.

As the hound opened his jaws to grab the little dragons, the floor beneath Devilseer suddenly jerked upwards as he was sent flying backwards through the air before he painfully landed square on the floor, moaning. Rikki and Ruby stopped and turned around, seeing the floor descending back into place, but stiffened when they saw Devilseer rising to his feet, dazed. He shook his head to shake away the pain and dizziness before he looked back to the little dragons and snarled.

Rikki and Ruby gasped and ran away from the Death Hound after seeing Devilseer charging at them.

Coltrane peeked from behind the corner of the hall Devilseer was in and watched him chase after Rikki and Ruby again as he smirked. He had used his Magic Crafter magic to move the floor upwards to keep Devilseer from easily killing Rikki and Ruby and to buy his friends time to get ready.

Rikki and Ruby quickly disappeared into the garden as the door opened up for them and closed behind them. Devilseer growled and followed them into the garden, hoping to corner them there and eat them on the spot.

As he entered through the door, the Death Hound found himself in the garden, stopping, as he looked for any signs of his prey. He looked to his left and slowly forged a sadistic grin when he saw Rikki and Ruby cornered by a wall several feet before him. Devilseer couldn't pass up an opportunity such as this and began to move forward, threatenly advancing the two little dragons with a low snarl. No sooner had he done so, as he took another step, the Death Hound uttered a yelp of shock when he failed to notice the pit Ember, Cynder, and Grayson dug up before he slipped and fell into the pit, landing painfully at the very bottom.

Rikki and Ruby approached the pit and peered down into it, seeing Devilseer sprawled on his back, moaning. They both giggled at the sight of the hound, then went into another room after finishing their part of the plan.

Hearing their cue, Flame and Grayson emerged out of the bushes growing in the gardens and ran towards the pit. They stopped in front it and turned to face their backs to the pit, pushing loose dirt from the ground down upon Devilseer with their back feet.

The Death Hound snarled as the heavy dirt fell onto him, weighing him down and suffocating him, but with a snarl of growing fury, Devilseer pulled himself up and began climbing up the pit.

"Back!" Flame said, as he and Grayson backed away from the pit to see Devilseer emerging out of it in front of them, snarling with vengeful hatred in his eyes as he instantly lunged at the two dragons.

Flame and Grayson quickly turned tail and ran through garden with the Death Hound trailing after them. As they entered the grassy section of the garden, Flame and Grayson jumped down from a short ledge and over a pair of thorn bushes that was set up by the other dragons.

Devilseer noticed the ledge and skidded to a halt, but did it too late and he landed square on top of the spiked needles of the thorn bushes. The needles stuck themselves into the hound's stomach, and as Devilseer widened his eyes, he yelped loudly in pain and jumped up to his haunches to get off of the thorn bushes, roaring and bellowing in agony.

Flame, Coltrane, Grayson, Halvor, and Bruce were standing in front of Devilseer and growled at him, baring their sharp teeth and raking their claws on the ground of the garden as smoke trailed out of their nostrils to show that they were ready to blow out their flames at their enemy.

Seeing the incoming threat, Devilseer knelt down and stood back on his four legs before he started backing away from the dragons.

"Oh no, you don't!" Flame roared, as he, Coltrane, Grayson, Bruce, and Halvor tackled Devilseer all together, almost crushing the Death Hound under their combined weight.

Devilseer fought angrily and viciously, biting and clawing at the dragons as best as he could, he managed to swipe at Coltrane, Bruce, and Halvor at the same time as he easily knocked Flame, and Grayson off of him.

Roaring like the insanity of the evil, Devilseer growled at the dragons before he started to approached Flame after noticing him struggling to rise to his paws. The red dragon struggled in vain as the Death Hound was upon him, but stopped in dread when he saw Devilseer opening his jaws to reveal rows of razor teeth, reaching closer and closer for Flame's neck.

Before Devilseer could deliver the deadly bite, Halvor quickly rammed into the Death Hound's side and sent him flying several feet into air as he collided into the wall and fell to the floor on his stomach, sticking the thorns deeper into his body to add the injury. Devilseer slowly pulled himself to his paws and shook his head, then looked to the young dragons.

However, his anger was suddenly replaced with growing fear as Devilseer saw the dragons recovering from their injuries and resumed advancing dangerously toward him to finish him off for good.

The Death Hound noticed the oppurtunity to flee and began to back away from the dragons, but realized it will cost him his pride and replace it with cowardice. As Flame and the others charged at him, the Death Hound took immediate action and ran out of the room with the dragons trailing him with determination and fury.

Devilseer continued his retreat, bounding through the halls of the Artisan Temple to get to the entrance while avoiding the snarls of the dragons who were chasing him. Enraged with anger, Flame increased his pace and got close enough to Devilseer to blow out hot flames at the hound's rear as hard as he could. Devilseer yelped sharply in pain as the searing heat burned on his tail, increasing his pace on his attempt to flee.

Roars and growls of fury continued on within the Artisan Temple until Devilseer bolted out of the temple's entrance with a look of hate in his eyes as he was looking behind him, then faced towards the hills.

Flame and Grayson had quickly followed the Death Hound until they stopped outside the entrance of the temple to see Devilseer running off into the hills to avoid them.

"Go find easier prey, dog breath, there's none here!" Flame snarled, as he glared at the fleeing Devilseer.

Devilseer trotted a few feet away from the dragons, then stopped in his tracks near the edge of the hill and turned his head to face Flame and Grayson. His eyes still showed that he was still persistent on killing the dragons off.

"I'll wait out here till you come. Sooner or later, you'll come." The Death Hound growled to Flame and Grayson, his voice still toned with hate and revenge, as he turned away from them and started walking away towards the hills in defeat.

Flame growled back, "Wait all you want. We're plenty of food and we won't be out for a long time."

"And you won't find any prey around here." Grayson added, "Everyone's cleared out till you're gone."

Flame responded, "Stay here and you starve, you monster of a hound!" As the two dragons looked on, Devilseer slowly disappeared into the distance of the rolling hills of Artisans to find some other prey to find...


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"What is this place? Spyro asked, turning to Cosmos. The two dragons had just passed through the portal and found themselves in a small maze of lush, green hedges and a little patch of dark land. The sky was night, the stars had shown themselves clearly in the dark sky, twinkling as the croaking chorus of the frogs emitted from everywhere.

Cosmos replied, "This is Dark Hollow, young dragon. Come." The Magic Crafter elder approached the dark-encased land and Spyro followed him closely.

Dark Hollow was a land in complete darkness and Spyro remembered that it might be night also back in Artisans. Cosmos briefly sniffed the air near another tunnel and looked into it for a moment before turning to Spyro, "This way..." The Magic Crafter elder began walking into the tunnel and soon disappeared into the darkness followed closely by Spyro.

As Cosmos and Spyro ventured through the tunnel, the purple dragon looked around and saw a faint, shimmering lights of the lanterns ahead. Everything was silent as if no one lived in the tunnel in months. Cosmos and Spyro soon came across a room that connected to several other hallways, leading to many parts of the underground beneath Dark Hollow.

"Ignitus!" Cosmos hollered, his voice echoing down each other passageways, "Ignitus, can you hear me?"

"Old scent..." Spyro spoke out, after sniffing the ground, "It looks like nobody's been in months."

"I guess I was wrong..." Cosmos muttered, lowering his head.

Spyro stood beside the Magic Crafter elder and reassured confidently, "It's alright, Cosmos...We'll find him."

"Who is there?" an old and weary voice called out, as Spyro and Cosmos turned to one of the hallways and heard something large approaching. Spyro got ready and glared as the creature lumbered toward him, his wings spread out, but stopped when the creature reached the end of the hall. A large, red dragon stepped out of the darkness of the tunnel and appeared into the light of the corridor, gazing at Spyro and Cosmos. Dark red flakes grew from his light red scales, on his shoulders and around its tail as its dark red wings were folded weakly on its shoulders.

Cosmos widened his eyes when he recognized the dragon, "Ignitus!"

"Cosmos...Spyro..." The old, red dragon said, with a growing smile as he approached Cosmos and the purple dragon, "I thought I would never see you again..."

"Did anyone else survive?" Spyro asked.

Ignitus replied, slowly nodding as he slowly brought out a pair of dragon eggs, "Yes...Yes...I've managed to save two of the eggs before the dark forces came, but...I couldn't save the rest..."

"It is all right, Ignitus," Cosmos reassured, feeling the regret rising in his heart, "We should have all left when we had the chance. Only Spyro and his friends escaped before the attack happened."

Spyro walked up to Ignitus and said, smiling, "We're going home, Ignitus, to the place in the high hills. You'll like it there."

"We'll move on back in the morning." Cosmos stated.

Ignitus chuckled with a weak smile, allowing his exhausted legs to rest on the floor as Cosmos and Spyro sat by his side, "Can't stay here with no other dragon here, can I?"


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A few hours later in the Artisans home, midnight slowly passed as Devilseer sniffed the de-activated portal of Stone Hill for a few moments before he turned and looked around, searching far and wide at the landscape. The only thing he heard was the hooting calls of the owls and the singing chirps of the crickets living around the area, oblivious to the sinister beast lurking about in their home.

"No food...nowhere." Devilseer growled, looking to the hills surrounding him. "Must be some...somewhere."

The Death Hound started moving on to the other part of Artisans, hoping to find live animals that are nearby to satisfy the aching pain in his stomach that is craving for meat. As the hound walked to a wide field, Devilseer spotted a herd of sheep and licked his chomps at the thought eating some sheep meat before satisfying himself for a dragon's; he started stalking toward them.

Unfortuantely, when the Death Hound got close enough, one of the sheep noticed Devilseer and cried out an alarm and the whole herd scurried away into the night, leaving the hound with an empty stomach once again. Snarling angrily, Devilseer turned around and walked away to the other side of the meadows while climbing atop a hill to get a better of the landscape.

The Death Hound then uttered a shocked snarl when he looked toward the rock shelter where Cynder was resting in and caught a whiff of a familiar scent.

Devilseer muttered happily, "Mmm...smell dragon..." With an anticipating snarl, the Death Hound began making his way to the rock shelter, eagerly itching for the flesh of a dragon.

Cynder was inside a sizable hole that was made by the rock formation. It provided the black dragoness enough room for her to rest in, but when she cautiously looked out of her shelter through a triangle-shaped opening, Cynder drew back inside when she heard something approaching.

Devilseer walked out from beside the rock shelter and looked around to see Flarea resting outside, staying close to Cynder. Seeing this as an opportunity to feast, the Death Hound began to approach the young phoenix as quietly as he can. Fortunately, Flarea perked up from her sleep and saw Devilseer, and with an startled gasp, she took flight into the air before the Death Hound could pinned her down with a ferocious growl.

Devilseer looked up at the phoenix, hearing her screeching angrily in the air before she flew off. He turned back to the rock formation and instantly saw Cynder inside the hole, then started making his way toward her with a wicked grin. As he approached the shelter, Devilseer lifted his left paw and reached into the hole for Cynder.

Cynder gasped when Devilseer tried to reach for her, and when the hound's paw drew closer to her, the black dragoness tried to kick his paw away. Devilseer pulled his paw back out and smiled evilly, then looked into the hole Cynder was in, his yellow eyes gleamed.

"Come out, little dragon, no more waiting." Devilseer said sadistically, smiling wickedly at the sight of Cynder trembling in fear, "I'm hungry tonight." He sniffed the air and licked his chomps with hungry anticipation.

Cynder edged backwards, as she backed away from Devilseer in her shelter when he tried to reach in for her again. The Death Hound started to growl, as he started to squeeze the front half of his body into the hole. To Cynder's utmost terror, she realized that the hole was almost sizeable enough for Devilseer to have room to completely kill the black dragoness. Cynder edged away from the Death Hound as she watched him draw closer to her, reaching his claws out.

Outside, Devilseer had half of his body in the rock formation to reach in for Cynder, his tail swaying back and forth at the joy of killing one of the dragons slowly and painfully. As the Death Hound raised his claws, the black dragoness gasped in dread and backed further into the rock shelter, missing Devilseer's claws.

To add things worse, Cynder couldn't move back any further from the hound in her shelter. To her, the pain will hurt a lot more once the Death Hound grabs hold of her and rip her to pieces like any other prey, which might take out some of the Devilseer's anger and revenge on the dragons of Artisans.

Devilseer saw the look of dread in Cynder's eyes and knew the dragoness couldn't move any further back to escape him. "Won't feel a thing, dragon." He growled to Cynder with a twisted grin, his claws almost reaching the black dragoness.

"And neither will you till we get done!" A familiar voice shouted outside of the shelter opening, as if the person had heard the Death Hound.

After hearing the voice from outside the rocks, Devilseer stopped his attack and glanced over his shoulder. He then backed his way out of the rocky shelter from Cynder until his body was completely outside before he looked up to the source of the voice.

As the Death Hound looked up, Flame, Bruce, Halvor and Coltrane stood atop the rock shelter and they ran to the edge of it. Determined to save Cynder, Flame uttered a savage war cry as he and the other dragons leapt off the rocks and jumped onto Devilseer followed by several blasts of searing, hot flames erupting from their mouths...

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The following morning, the birds sung peacefully as the sun had risen up into the horizon in the Artisans home. Near the entrance of the temple, Grayson was outside trying to fill in a pit the other dragons dug up.

The young Peace Keeper growled and moaned under his breath, "Dig a pit, then go back and fill it in again..." He turned around, and to his surpise, he saw Spyro, Cosmos, and Ignitus approaching the Artisan Temple, "Welcome back! I missed you, Spyro, and I mean that sincerely."

"What's been going on?" Spyro asked, looking around.

"Bit a bother with the Death Hound, but we sorted him out." Grayson replied, then his voice was replaced with a hint of regret and remorse, "But Cynder's in a bad state, and it's my fault..."

The young Peace Keeper then lead Spyro to where Flame and the others are with Cynder, leaving Cosmos and Ignitus to stand at the temple entrance.

Cosmos turned to Ignitus and smiled, "Things tend to happen around here, Ignitus, but you'll get use to it in time."

Ignitus solemnly nodded, as he faced the landscape of Artisans, "Yes, it will take some time. This may not be the Dragon Temple, but this place...this place is so much like home.."

Ember walked out of the Artisan Temple and smiled to Cosmos, "Welcome back, Cosmos. Hello again, Ignitus. It's been a while."

"Take these eggs to the nursery, Ember." Cosmos said sternly, passing the dragon eggs to Ember as the pink dragon nodded and carefully walked back inside the Artisan Temple with the eggs. The Magic Crafter elder turned back to Ignitus, but saw the old Fire Guardian still wallowing about the attack on the Dragon Temple; Cosmos looked at him with slight remorse as he closed his eyes.

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Several miles away, Flame, along with Coltrane, Halvor, Ami, and Bruce stood by the rock shelter Cynder took refuge in, trying to persuade her come back to the temple to live with them again. The lifeless body of Devilseer laid a few feet away from the dragons, charred and still sizzling from the burns they painfully and mercilessly inflicted on him when he tried to kill Cynder. The evil Death Hound of the Dark Master and threatening carnivore will no longer harm the dragons of Artisans ever again.

"I already told you." Cynder muttered sadly to the other dragons, still feeling responsible of the bad things that had happened, "I can't live in Artisans anymore. Please, go away."

Flame replied, with a shake of his head, "Don't think so."

Spyro's voice greeted, as the purple dragon and Grayson approached, "Morning, everyone."

"Morning, Spyro." Flame greeted back, turning to the purple dragon.

"Grayson told me what happened..." Spyro responded, stopping beside Flame before he looked to Cynder, "Listen, Cynder, it wasn't your fault that you caused all of this. You were under the influence of the Dark Master."

Cynder replied, still feeling remorseful, "You can't know that. Grayson was right."

Spyro turned to Grayson with a glare and stated, "Some of us blame the corrupted victim when they don't like their doings of the past. That's all he meant." The purple dragon turned back to Cynder while Grayson lowered his head with slight remorse about what he said.

"I don't think so..." Cynder said, lowering her head again.

"Look, nobody blames you for what happened." The purple dragon continued, "You were never given a choice to serve the Dark Master. You were taken by the dark forces as an egg."

Cynder perked up and looked to Spyro with growing hope, repeating, "I was taken as an egg??"

"And we have someone back at the temple who can tell you all about it." Spyro responded, nodding.

Cynder slowly smiled and walked up to Spyro, saying with realization, "So I didn't join the Dark Master because I chose to. I am innocent."

"That's what I've been trying to say all night." Flame spoke out, as the other male dragons nodded to Cynder.

The black dragoness answered, slowly turning back to Flame, "But not the way Spyro said it."

Flame rolled his eyes and sighed, "No, of course not."

"Now, let's hear all about the Death Hound." Spyro inquired, as he looked to the others around him, "And I've got stories to tell about our journey to Dark Hollow."

With that said, the young dragons started chattering to Spyro about Devilseer's return and everything that has happened while he was away, laughing and cheering as they slowly made their way back to the Artisan Temple to see Ignitus. Another victory triumphed over the vengance and hate of a lone enemy and another adventure in Artisans awaits them all...